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The Data on Teen Dating

Study Finds Trouble for Kids Who Date at an Earlier Age

By

Ann Lukits

Sept. 30, 2013 7:17 p.m. ET

Boys and girls who start dating at a young age are disrupting the typical pattern of teenage romantic development and may have more school and behavioral problems than their peers, suggests a Canadian study to be published in the December issue of the Journal of Adolescence.

Interest in the opposite sex usually begins at puberty and gradually evolves into casual interactions, followed by group-based dating by the midteens, previous...